NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Country music star Waylon Jennings was alert and 'feeling fine' Tuesday only a day after emergency triple-bypass heart surgery, and his wife, singer Jesse Colter, stood by his side.
'Waylon woke up this morning and asked to have Jesse come up and see him,' said Jennings' spokeswoman, Bridget Dolan. 'The surgery was successful and things look very good. There was no evidence of a heart attack, which is the good news.'
Country music stars Johnny Cash and his wife, June Carter Cash, were among the friends who have stopped by to visit Jennings, but only Colter has been allowed to see him in the intensive care ward at Baptist Hospital, Dolan said.
'His visitors are limited at this time, but he's awake and alert and feeling fine,' she said. 'We have been flooded with requests from radio stations to get an address where people can send cards.'
Jennings, 51, who claims to have kicked a $1,500-a-day cocaine habit in 1985, was in stable condition after the 45-minute surgery Monday and was expected to be hospitalized several days.
He complained of chest pains Sunday on his tour bus while traveling to a concert in Bristol, Tenn. The bus turned around, went back to Nashville and took Jennings to the hospital, where tests showed he had partial blockage in three arteries.
It was the second time in two months that Jennings had been hospitalized with chest pains. While touring California in October, he underwent a balloon angioplasty to clear one of the arteries that doctors found blocked Sunday.
'They gave him a clean bill of health, and he went back on the road,' Dolan said. 'He was feeling fine until this happened.
'I don't know if you'd call it a close call. But it was something that they had to deal with rather quickly. He is going to follow the doctor's advice and take some time off. We've canceled all of his dates through February 15. That's around 10 concerts.'
Jennings is best known for his hits 'Good Hearted Woman' and 'Luckenbach, Texas.' He has won four Country Music Awards and two Grammys.
